{"id":1844,"date":"2012-07-06T04:53:33","date_gmt":"2012-07-06T04:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/?p=259"},"modified":"2012-07-06T04:53:33","modified_gmt":"2012-07-06T04:53:33","slug":"making-the-argument-for-open-workspaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/making-the-argument-for-open-workspaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the Argument for Open Workspaces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of us have spent hours staring at cubical walls, sometime wishing we could relive the iconic scene from Office Space<\/em> where Peter unscrews the wall and smiles at his new open view.\u00a0 If only we could have an open space that isn\u2019t so restricted and compressed.\u00a0 But before we make the argument for that change, let\u2019s take a look at some of the reasons why cubicles were used in the first place, and why some people still swear by them as an effective method of staff management.<\/p>\n

The cubicle was designed by Robert Propst for Herman Miller, Inc. in 1967 and named it the \u201cAction Office 2.\u201d\u00a0 This versatile mobile wall unit was a big change from the large and disorganized bullpen\u2019s most corporate offices used prior.\u00a0 The cubical was a way to shove more employees into a small workspace, and also give them more privacy and structure.\u00a0 Limiting exposure to distractions was a main selling point, and it\u2019s still an argument used by proponents of closed off work environments.\u00a0 Some also give credit to the cubical for advancing women\u2019s roles in the workspace in the 60\u2019s.\u00a0 Bullpens could be very male dominated, and cubicles gave corporations a way to move more women into middle management without them feeling judged or pressured by coworkers.\u00a0 If nothing else, you can say the cubicle is functional, as it has sold 5 billion dollars\u2019 worth of units as of 2005, but just because it is one<\/em> of the solutions doesn\u2019t mean it is the best<\/em> solution.<\/p>\n

A survey on \u201cThe Influence of Workplace Design & Practices on the Ethical Environment\u201d conducted by Ethisphere Institute and Jones Lang LaSalle showed that open workspaces have a positive influence on both corporate culture and on employee behavior.\u00a0 Because these changes have such beneficial outcomes, they are quickly becoming preferred over the typical \u201ccube farms.\u201d\u00a0 Sixty percent of companies surveyed had already switched to an open workspace environment and 38 percent switched in the past 5 years.\u00a0 When working in an open environment, employees are less likely to have ethics violations, the survey found.\u00a0 This is even truer for organizations that hire off site employees, who simply don\u2019t have the opportunity to commit misconduct on a regular basis.\u00a0 You can read the entirety of the survey here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the survey linked above one respondent stated, \u201cIf you brought the officers of the company to more accessible and observable office space, employees would respond with better company identity and more overall engagement.\u201d\u00a0 Could something so simple really improve the employee\u2019s view of their company and make them work harder? If so, what other benefits do we see for employee morale?<\/p>\n

Well most people don\u2019t enjoy being caged up or confined to small places.\u00a0 In a world where we applaud food companies that use free range methods and don\u2019t force their animals to stay in closed spaces, you wonder why we don\u2019t do the same for ourselves.\u00a0 We aren\u2019t beasts in a zoo, we are creative, social creatures that need to communicate and share.\u00a0 That\u2019s hard to do with an 8ft wall in between you and the rest of society.\u00a0 Working in an open environment keeps everyone in the know and helps them keep healthy working relationships by openly communicating with their peers.\u00a0 Morale can easily drop when employees feel that they are left out of the important information, or haven\u2019t heard the latest achievements or direction of the office.<\/p>\n

There are certainly arguments for both sides, but the benefits are just too strong to ignore for open workspaces.\u00a0 Improved morale, less employee misconduct, and a more natural environment is simply too much to brush aside.\u00a0 With large percentages of companies switching over, it\u2019s time to look at your cubicles and say \u201chow can I expect my employees to think outside the box when I make them work while crammed inside one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many of us have spent hours staring at cubical walls, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[508],"tags":[651,652,392],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}